BY KEVIN POLICARPO
The U.S. Coast Guard is facing a $7 billion backlog of shore infrastructure projects as of June 2024, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published on March 5th. [1]
This is in contrast to 2019, when shore assets, such as piers and runways, needed at least $2.6 billion of work. About 45% of the facilities were past their expected service life, according to the GAO at that time.[2]
The 2025 GAO report, Coast Guard Shore Infrastructure:Project Backlogs Reportedly Exceed $7 Billion, states that the $7 billion backlog consists of recapitalization projects (including new construction and deferred depot-level maintenance) and according to U.S. Coast Guard officials’ interviews by GAO, such projects would have been completed if the funding was available.
Background
The U.S. Coast Guard’s mission is to protect and defend U.S. coastline and inland waterways, which total up to 100,000 miles.[3] To assist in this mission, the Coast Guard utilizes almost 40,000 coastal infrastructure assets, including lighthouses, piers, housing units, training centers and command centers.[4] In total, the shoreline infrastructure used by the Coast Guard is valued at $24.5 billion.[5]
However, in its internal annual 2023 report, the Coast Guard rated the overall condition of its shore facilities as “mediocre to fair” with half of the assets operating beyond their expected service life. For example: “…81 percent of the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure aviation assets, such as lighting for airfields, are past their service life…”[6]
Shoreline Infrastructure Backlog
The GAO report focuses on three areas: “(1) the condition of Coast Guard shore infrastructure, (2) reported project backlogs, and (3) budget transparency to address Coast Guard funding targets.”[7]
The GAO analyzed the FY2019 (fiscal year) to FY2025 budget data of the Department of Homeland Security, which included the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure funding targets. They also analyzed Coast Guard documentation on its management of its shore infrastructure and data of the condition of its coastal assets as of fiscal year (FY) 2023.
The GAO report concluded that: “Years of deferred maintenance, combined with the need for new facilities to accommodate new assets (such as the Offshore Patrol Cutter), have contributed to the growth in the backlogs’ cost, according to Coast Guard officials. We have reported on these issues and found that the Coast Guard’s short-term budget decisions have contributed to the buildup of its deferred maintenance and recapitalization efforts.”[8]
The GAO team also discovered that the $7 billion cost to address the shore infrastructure was “…understated because there are hundreds of additional projects that lack cost estimates, and the Coast Guard has not updated all of its existing cost estimates for inflation.”[9]
The Coast Guard’s infrastructure backlog is also contributing to a buildup of unaffordable acquisitions in both the short-term and long-term. This means that the Coast Guard’s modernization and acquisition efforts are bogged down in delays.
The Coast Guard cannot address the shore infrastructure project backlog as the budget requests set by the President fall short of what is required. In fact, from FY 2019 to FY 2025, the Presidential budget requests and the actual funding levels for shore infrastructure have been below the funding targets that the Coast Guard set up in regards to shore infrastructure. According to Coast Guard officials: “Current funding is only adequate to address the most pressing needs, which tend to be unplanned corrective actions to address issues that have accumulated over time from years of deferred maintenance…”[10]
Recommendations
In February 2019, the GAO produced a report COAST GUARD SHORE INFRASTRUCTURE: Applying Leading Practices Could Help Better Manage Project Backlogs of At Least $2.6 Billion and made six recommendations to the Coast Guard to improve its management of its shore infrastructure by improving their condition assessments and budget-related data reporting.
These recommendations are as follows:
- The Commandant of the Coast Guard should direct the program managers to develop a plan with milestones and time frames for standardizing Coast Guard’s facility condition assessments.
- The Commandant of the Coast Guard should direct program managers to establish shore infrastructure performance goals, measures, and baselines to track the effectiveness of maintenance and repair investments and provide feedback on progress made.
- The Commandant of the Coast Guard should work with Congress to develop and implement a process to routinely align Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure portfolio with mission needs, including by disposing of all unneeded assets.
- The Commandant of the Coast Guard should establish guidance for planning boards to document inputs, deliberations, and project prioritization decisions for infrastructure maintenance projects.
- The Commandant of the Coast Guard should employ models for its asset lines for predicting the outcome of investments, analyzing tradeoffs, and optimizing decisions among competing investments.
- The Commandant of the Coast Guard should include supporting details about competing project alternatives and report trade-offs in Congressional budget requests and related reports.[11]
As of February 2025, two of the six recommendations have been addressed. For example, “…in response to GAO’s previous recommendations, the Coast Guard is in the process of systematically assessing the condition of its shore infrastructure.”[12]
In the GAO’s 2025 report, it says that in order to address the remaining four recommendations, the Coast Guard will need to:
(1) Develop goals and baselines for tracking the effectiveness of its maintenance and repair efforts;
(2) Implement new guidance to align its assets with mission needs;
(3) Fully employ models to help prioritize decision-making; and
(4) Find new ways to inform Congress about the various projects alternatives and trade-offs that the Coast Guard faces when deciding how best to allocate its shore infrastructure resources.[13]
The result is “ We believe that fully addressing our 2019 recommendations will help the Coast Guard to better manage its resources (and) identify cost.”[14]
FOOTNOTES
[1] https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-108064
[2] https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-19-82.pdf
[3] https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-108064
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-108064.pdf
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-19-82.pdf
[12] https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-108064
[13] https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-108064.pdf
[14] Ibid